Happy Christmas

A SCOTTISH CASTLE AND A WELSH FOLK SONG

A slide show of Cawdor Castle and Gardens set to an old Welsh Folk Song

"David of the White Rock"

Bamburgh Weekend

The weekend trip was arranged by  my camera club The Tweeddale Photographic Group.  Six members in all and partners ventured out on the last weekend in October, fingers crossed for fine weather. We had taken our caravan and discovered a small site with a fantastic, uninterrupted view of Bamburgh Castle

By the time I met the members of the group who also arrived on the Friday the light was pretty poor and it didn’t bode well for our plans for a sunrise shoot but I did manage to capture a couple of shots with just a glimpse of the sun on the castle

  

Armathwaite- Castlerigg Farm

Looking forward to a week camping in our new to us caravan

A stately lady, vintage 1996, the odd wrinkle here and there and still not sure yet what works and what doesn’t  

Looking forward to meeting a certain Mr Em,  a stalwart of the Dandy Forum…

He’s the one with the specs

and meeting up again with two lovely people Pat & Tony

We Spent a lovely day here together

http://happysnapperatlarge.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html

All packed up now and ready to go......Look out Mr Em We Are On Our Way
*  * *
I had hoped for an easy journey, alas it was not meant to be for my first trip towing the Tin Tent
We reached Hawick
ROAD CLOSED AT MOSS PAUL
"Oh <>@|||^***"
Diverted and still not sure where we went but finally emerged at Canonbie, everything was pretty straight forward from there on. We found the site very easily, because of the diversion "Mr Em" had arrived before us, not what I had planned, the poor farmer was not armed for this larger then life character and looked a little shell
shocked by the time we arrived
My first encounter with Em was a near death experience... Just about Hugged to Death
Oh! But It Was Worth The Risk
* * *
Finally we both got settled
And What A View

 Although the weather was not always as good as this all the time, good or bad you could watch it rolling in over the lakes in the distance

 

There are some lovely old shops in Penrith and I wished  I had taken more photographs
Unfortunately SAINSBURYS
seem to be digging up the center of the town to establish what appears to be a SUPER Market, I do hope this is not going to detract from the charm of the old town

Stopped for a Thirst Quencher, Can't remember the name of the pub but it was in Lazonby

Mr Em left us on Thursday but what a great week it was, we really did miss him

and are looking forward to meeting up again.

Wish it could be soon than later

Another highlight of the week.
 Pat & Tony visited on Friday, lovely to see them again and once again Tony thanks for all the tips on the caravan, just about got everything working now :-))

Looking Back ……Autumn-Winter 2010-2011

After what seems the worst summer ever, now wondering what Mother Nature has in store for us

August 14, 2011

Just a Snippet of Whippets



August 14, 2011 a video by bfurphy on Flickr.Scottish Thistle Pedigree Whippet Racing Club

Elgin Cathedral, Spynie Palace and Duffus Castle

Not a very promising start to the day, We set off from Muir of Ord for Cawdor Castle but as the weather brightened we pushed on to Elgin instead, the day just got better and visited Spynie Palace and Duffus Castle as well

www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/propertyres ults/propertyabou...
ELGIN CATHEDRAL
Spiritual heart of Moray

Elgin Cathedral is one of Scotland’s most beautiful medieval buildings, and the inspiration for many an artist.

An awe-inspiring building

The imposing yellow sandstone ruin is also one of the most important architectural legacies from that bygone age, whose intriguingly complex building history will reward the patient visitor

.
The cathedral was the ecclesiastical centre, the spiritual heart, of the diocese of Moray

The Chapter House

The restoration of stonework has been handled with great skill and care

Stone bishops and knights

The bishop’s cathedral or seat, was not always at Elgin –

it had previously been at nearby Kinneddar, Birnie and Spynie – but once it was transferred to Elgin around 1224, it remained there until the Protestant Reformation of 1560 effectively left the cathedral redundant.

Lindisfarne

A visit to Berwick on Tweed to meet two lovely people became a lovely treat

A much to my delight a visit to Lindisfarne  had been planned.I had only visited once before and the weather had not been kind, fingers crossed we seemed to have a good start.

I WISH!!!

Taken in the pretty village of Ravenglass

Almost Black & White

All of my B&W images are conversions from colour, a few are new and some are old images I have dragged out again to give a bit of a facelift

BEAM ME UP SCOTTIE

This one was taken at Ruthven Barracks way back in 2008 not very well exposed so I just played around and added a filter

SWEET PEA

Not sure garden flowers lend themselves to this treatment, this must be one of my very first efforts, looking at it now it could do with a little of the noise taken out

April

WHAT WILL THIS MONTH BRING US?

Watching Ewe

31st of March and it's blowing a Hooligan here.
It certainly isn't going out like a lamb

Watching Ewe, a photo by bfurphy on Flickr.

Some Days you're the Pigeon..........

Some Days you're the Pigeon.........., a photo by bfurphy on Flickr.

A Spring Day In The Garden

The garden was desperately needed a good tidy up

Weeded  a little, split a few plants and rehomed them in one or two  vacant plots,

I think I lost a few plants to to frost this year

Swept up the debris of sunflower husks which seemed to be almost ankle deep below the bird feeders

I had taken the camera into the garden with me hoping to capture a few

shots of the birds on the feeders but they all seem far too busy doing what comes naturally at this time of year

So I turned my attentions to the two best girls.Roxy my little whippet doesn’t stay still for long but she posed for a short while just enjoying the sunshineThen Tara my 14year old finally woke from her slumbers, looked at me with her one almost good eye and promptly returned to snoring her little head off on her cushion

Not much to see just at the moment, Flowering Cherry is yet to put on a show,  just a little more sunshine should do it.

Only a few Crocus and Daffs

 and
Primroses I bought from a garden center

It Snowed

I should have done this sooner but overtaken by lethargy
with the cold and miserable days
of January my mind still seems it be hibernating under a foot of frozen snow.

This, I think was one of the most beautiful days of December, bitterly cold , sun shining and after another heavy snowfall eveything just sparkled in the frosty air

Topped up the bird feeders and was on my way

Set off down Leithen Crescent and down towards the "Batty" where Leithen water runs into the Tweed

Here is one I prepared earlier